Played Cleydael Front-9

Yesterday evening we (Wim and I) played the first 9 holes of Cleydael again.
It had been a while since we played both there together.
Wim played alone about 3 weeks ago, but I didn't play there anymore for at least 2 or 3 months.
Anyway, as always we enjoyed playing at our homeclub a lot, even if our scores were lousy.

A thing I noticed doing, is pulling my club, which lead to hooked teeshots. Even drives where off line... weird, last week all that went pretty well.
On one hole I hit 2 balls in the water, because I didn't tee it high enough. I played a 3wood (my Callaway XHot), but didn't tee it high enough, when I already lost 2 balls Wim thaught I should tee it higher, and that helped a lot, it was near the green, but like all shots that day, it was left of the green.

I noticed Wim doing a lot of bowling-like moves when he wanted to hit the ball from the fairway... he bent his left knee, which totally fucked up his shots. It always happened when his ball was a little tricky to play. For example on hole 9, there is a pond in front of the green, his ball was at 160m from the green, he took a safe play by taking a 7 iron to stay nicely in front of the pond instead of taking his 5 wood and hitting it on the green. So he adresses, does a few backswing practices, as he always does, and when he fired it looked like he would throw a bowlingball along the alley.
Another time it looked like he wanted to dive after the ball, as if you would throw something in the pool, and then jump after it.
Weird, I'm sure if he can control that he'd play better.
He's a bit affraid of letting go his club, it looks also pretty mechanic, and forced, as if he would like to control his club along the flight.

For him, for me and for all the rest of you, you should check out Shawn Clements' movies at YouTube... he's a great pro that teaches in Canada, but he has an amazing way of explaining things.

Played Drie Eycken

So I played Drie Eycken on Thursdayafternoon.
Normally I would play again on Drie Eycken, together with my girlfriend (in a bring a friend tournament) on Saturday, but we decided to stay at home and start packing stuff in boxes for our upcomming move to Willebroek.
So I had no second chance to improve my game on Drie Eycken.

Well it felt as it has been ages since I played a round again... also the first two Tee-shots where pretty miserable, anyway, on the third hole (a par 4) I played PAR, and told myself, now you're launched... which was the case for the hole afterwards (again a par 4) that I bogied.
Unfortunatly, tides changed again, but that wasn't soo bad, I enjoyed every hole of it... unless hole 6, where I fucked up completely right after my Tee-shot got knocked off the tee by the heel of my driver and landed in MEGA long grass a few meter further.
After at least 15 tries I could get the ball out of it... then I decided to pick up the ball because that hole was lost anyway.
I learned that in such cases I should take a much shorter iron, like an 8 or a 9 iron, but defenatly not a 4.

After a lousy start, I'm sure I learned some things, and that is

1. I hit my driver well, almost always near 220 meters, and always straight. The only thing I should remember is that I need to align myself well, else straight shots go pretty unexpected directions.
2. Punch shots still need a lot of work.
3. Distance guessing and finding the right club for that distance needs improvement.
4. Putting is pretty much OK for my handicap (36). The short backswing and long follow through have helped a lot !

One thing was very much fun during the round, and that was that guy in my flight who had a 3,5 handicap. He could do stuff with the ball I'm still dreaming of. On hole 7, after his teeshot with a 3 wood he was near the 200 meters mark... he asked me what the stroke-saver said about this hole... I told him: "it's about 200 meters from where you are", he couldn't see the green, because some trees, 50 meters away, blocked his view. So he took his 3 or 4 iron, swung, and hit a curve ball, that followed the whole bend of the hole, and skipped for landing on the green.
Man was I impressed by that shot. He couldn't even see where he was going, he didn't even peeked where the flag was... The misteries of golf... That's why I love this sport soo much !

Tomorrow evening I'll play 9 holes at Cleydael with Wim. I wonder how much I missed, and if he improved much during the time I didn't go to practice.

Tomorrow Drie Eycken

Tomorrow I play a round on Drie Eycken...
I haven't played much this season thanks to a knee-surgery, an upcoming move, and a lot of bad weather... I guess we never had summer overhere in Belgium this year... cloudy, rainy, not always warm... maybe summer still needs to come ?

Anyway, tomorrow I play a round with the Chamber Of Commerce of Antwerp (VOKA) on Drie Eycken.
Drie Eycken is the "sister" course of Cleydael, and members of Cleydael can play for free on Drie Eycken too... though I never did so.
I looked at the course map already and I have the feeling that Drie Eycken is much more difficult than Cleydael, because the fairway are much narrower, and there's a hole that has a tree in the middle of the fairway.
I hope I can control my play a little, but I'm pretty confident about my swing.
I already made a gameplan that I'm planning to take with me, I wonder if this will work out.

More about it tomorrow...

Once we got settled at our new penthouse in Willebroek I hope to play more next season than I did this season.

Cleydael Golf Club

This season - from oktober 2006 until oktober 2007 - we - Wim and I - became member at the Cleydael Golf Club. We switched clubs mainly because of the following reasons :

• We played the 6 Par-3 holes all in par, or par + 1
• 6 holes are easy to remember, so each hole you knew which club should come out of the bag
• playing with only 4 clubs (7, 8, 9, SW, Putter) is becomes pretty boring
• course management could only be learned if you used just all your wedges (SW, PW, Gap and Lob)... but we never did that, not even once
• Cleydael golf has 18 real holes (par 72 - 5687 from the MFT, 6059 from the MBT)
• Cleydael golf is affordable for people under 35 years
• Above that Cleydael members are also member of the 3 Eyken Golf Club (9 holes - par 35)
• And Cleydael members can train for free at the facilities of Antwerp Golf School, which is on the opposite side of the street of Cleydael
• The only bad thing about Cleydael, and any other real golf is that you have to reserve your Tee-Off Time... we never had to do that at Dragon Golf, if you felt like it, you walked up the first Tee
• Oh yes, another bad thing is the too small driving range of Cleydael Golf (and 3 Eyken too)... if you're used to the fantastic driving range of Dragon Golf then anything else seems stupid, but thanks the deal with Antwerp Golf School that problem is solved too... the putting an the chipping ranges at Cleydael are awesome though

Callaway XHot Wood

Wim bought this new toy, a Callaway XHot Fairway Wood, it's an oversized 3-wood with a longer than normal shaft - 44" instead of the regular 43"... you could call it a mini-driver.
In fact that's what you should use it for... overhere in Belgium there are a lot of courses that play well if you would have a little driver... one that doesn't bomb it way out there... but just far enough that you'll hit it far enough for your next shot to be perfect.
Why I think the XHot FW isn't a real FW club, well... the longer shaft and the enormous head make the tool difficult to use on the course.
Not that you can't use it on the course, but you'll need a lot of skill to use it well.
And that's something I don't have... yet.
But as a second - mini - driver it works perfect.
We've hit some balls on the range, and I was so glad with the result that I bought one myself.
So glad that I bought me als one of these babies...
Unfortunatly I didn't re-archieve the same playability level (ie straight shots) I had back then when I tested Wim's club... but that's for sure me, and not the club.

Ping Hybrid G5

I hit some balls with a new Callaway Big Bertha Heavenwood H4 - a hybrid club - that my friend bought a while ago. He made me so crazy that he loved the way the ball flew and went on and on, and on...
If I'm not mistaken I hit it over the pond or close to the edge, which is about a 180m... I liked the ballflight too... low, but long.
So, I dedided to buy a hybrid club myself... since I liked my Ping G5s so much I thaught why not stay with Ping... so I bought a 22° Ping G5 Hybrid... what a nice tool. It looks sharp, it plays well, does what it's supposed to do. Maybe I'm looking and interpreting the distance wrong... but I've got the impression that I hit it as far as I hit my 5 Iron, although the website says you should play it as far as a 4 Iron.

mScorecard

A week ago, a friend (Wim) told me about nifty little program he found on the Internet.
The program is called mScorecard, and it's nothing more than that... a mobile Scorecard.
But what makes this program the best - I think - is that it runs even on your cellphone - if that one supports Java programs (MIDlets).

Above that it calculates your stableford points automatically, based on your handicap...
In our club (Dragon Golf), after getting your GVB, you'll get what they call in internal handicap of 45, then you have to play internal competitions, until you have handicap 28 (or what they call "clubpoints"). At handicap 35 you have to give a stroke, at 34 2 strokes, and so on... apparenty the tool knows about such a system.
I entered the 18 holes (3 times 6 holes at our club), added the index for every hole and now it knows where to give the strokes away... nice, and for sure EASY to use.
And as I said, now you can really use that cellphone on the course.

Oh yeah, it does more than just stableford points... it keeps track of GIRs, fairwayhits (not necessary at Dragon Golf, because it are all par 3s), putts, and so on... it even can keep track of sidegames - like greenies, and if your betting during play, it can keep of who needs who to pay, and the amount.

A great tool, I recommend it ! Get it ! For the 16 € you have to pay you never have to count yourself anymore.
http://www.mscorecard.com/

Ping G5

About a year ago, when I started playing golf, I bought some 4Some 103+ clubs at Vero Golf. These clubs had graphite shaft. When I started, my swing was slower than it is now... these clubs where pretty great, in fact they aren't as bad at all... really decent material... and in fact I think they are even made in Belgium. They where really great clubs for starting. Hell I didn't even need new clubs to be honest... I just had to make a million adjustments to make them work well, like not swinging all the way through in the backswing, but I'm way to flexible for that, and I hate holding back.

Now my swing is faster, and I felt that I couldn't really control the ball with those clubs... the biggest problem I had with them is that they didn't weigh enough because of their graphite shafts.
When I started playing I thaught it was better that the clubs didn't weigh a lot, but now, I know it's easier to play with a heavier club. It's probably just something like a personal preference.

About a month ago we had this demo day at our club. 3 brands where displayed. Man, this was so much fun, I can only advise this... if there's a demo day at your club : GO THERE !
The 3 brands where : Callaway, Cobra and I think Ben Hogan.
At the end of the day, and hitting about 200 balls or so (yeah we got carried away), we found out that the Callaway Big Bertha's 2006, the Callaway Fusion Wide Soles, and the Cobra 3400I/XH where pretty easy to hit with. I liked the Big Bertha's 2006 with graphite stiff flex shafts... balls launched extremely high, and landed always very far. The Cobra's 3400I/XH where OK too, they had a regular flex graphite shaft too, so I wasn't completely convinced yet.

Then the guy from Cobra gave me a Cobra Forged CB with a steel R300 flex shaft. WOW, what an amazing difference in feeling. I hit some cool balls with them... I had the feeling that I could let the ball land where I wanted it... this was the total opposit as how I played until then : hit it, and prey it lands somewhere near the green. I also noticed that the launch angle was a lot more flat compared to the Big Bertha's... balls didn't go as high, but landed at least as far.
I was really amazed by the feeling and the response you got from Cobra Forged clubs. For the first time I had the feeling that I was in charge.
I was almost set for buying blades... and this at a beginner level... and that's where my mind got totally twisted... you always read stories on the net that forged blades are for players with a single digit handicap... so this couldn't be right.
So I spoke to a teaching pro about the fact that I really like those Cobra Forged clubs... he asked me what shafts I tried... I said the Big Bertha's had a graphite stiff flex, the Cobra 3400I/XH had graphite regular flex shafts and the Cobra Forged where the only clubs that had a steel shaft regular flex. So he said, well the magic happens in the shaft... it's the only thing that makes the difference. You're to flexible Michael, so you are off a lot better with a steel shaft.
So I asked about being a beginner and using blades... he said, maybe the blades are good for you, but you'll notice you have to hit the ball always good to make it work well... he gave me the advise to try some other clubs with steel shafts. Unfortunatly the demo day was over...

Some days later I got a Golf Digest issue where David Owen speaks about his Dream makeover, in there he writes that he bought some new clubs, and the guys there told him that the shaft was indeed where all the magic happens... and as long as your lie and your shaft is appropriate, the blade itself doesn't really matter so much... so that's where I decided to go for Ping clubs, because they have something like a webfitting tool. You have to enter several measurements and the system will tell you what colorcodes you have. With this information you can then order the correct lie. I liked the comments they write about the G5 series in the Golf Digest Hot List 2006. With the article in mind, I was so bold to order these clubs online.

My Friend Wim ordered a while ago his clubs - he went for the Big Bertha's 2006 with graphite regular flex shafts - online... the prices there are at least 200 euro cheaper than the listprices. Above that they are pretty fast and pretty cheap to ship to Belgium (12 euro). We heard stories about ordering clubs in Japan, this looks to me like a little tricky... so we kept it on Holland.

I checked for prices there at Golf Clubs Europe, and ordered them... about 3 weeks later I got my delivery.
At first I was amazed by the grip... at the end this grip is way much thicker than my 4Some grip. WOW, that weight, you finally feel you've got something in your hands.

After going to the range and hitting a few balls I was amazed that - when I hit the ball good - that I hit it FAR... WAY OUT THERE !
The biggest problem was getting used to swinging them - instead of the old ones, but after a session or 3 at the range I got used to them.
Now I'm amazed at how well I can hit with these clubs... at our hole 4 I used to hit a 9 iron, now when I fully swing with the PW, I hit the ball to the end of the green... most balls fly straight too now... so all the power I was loosing from spinning to the right is now used for flying straight, which results in a rediculous end of the green position with a club smaller than before.

Getting used to this is probably again a round or 2. Anyway I'm extremely happy with my new clubs... in fact I dropped again 2 weekends ago, and I'm planning on doing better than that this weekend. Because now I'm used to my new clubs, back then I wasn't.

To be continued... for sure !

TaylorMade Suzuka CGB

Because I didn't really have much more confident left in my old - cheap - putter (a Master La Rocca - the one next to this text) I got for my birthday a brand new putter from my girlfriend.

In the store I tested different putters... at the end it was a hard choice between the Ping G5i Mini C and the TaylorMade Rossa Suzuka CGB... I wanted the Ping because it matched my new set (which will be delivered soon)... but when I hit a few balls with the TaylorMade I was surprised that every single ball I hit went in the hole, even when I switched clubs - hit a few balls and reswitched to the TaylorMade - they went in, ball after ball.

My girlfriend, who already joined me a few times to see how bad I putted before, was even more surprised... she meant I had to take the TaylorMade, the difference was clearly visible.

With my new putter I went out this weekend and played a small competition, and I lowered my handicap... maybe it's not just the putter, maybe I had more confidence in my putting... I don't know, but buying new equipement helps to get better.

According to TaylorMade the lines in the putter will improve the ball rolling earlier and not skidding over the green... they do roll longer I have the feeling... with the old putter I was often too short, with this one I'm less often short, and in fact the distance is easier to control with this one.

Welcome !

Hi,

Because everybody speaks about blogging, I was thinking why not try it myself... and there the first problem appeared... about what should I write... well because I'm completely mad about 2 things in my life, the choise was easy... GOLF... the other much more important thing is my girlfriend and the live we're building up together, but I think that's a private issue, and doesn't classify for a blog.

Golf is a really addictive game, and I'm hooked, or maybe even obsessed by it.

What I want to do by this blog is keep you informed by with the progress I make in golf, share about stories I read, or lived, trips I've made, courses I played... just about everything related to golf I do.
Basically nothing really special, maybe even a bit boring, but hey, aren't there a lot of boring blogs out there ?

OK, let me know what you think about it ? I'm interested in comments.

Here I go...

Michael